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Musings, meanderings, wonderings and wanderings about unschooling, natural  parenting, green living, social justice and more by writer, author and Natural Life magazine editor Wendy Priesnitz.  Archives - October, 2008 Green, Frugal and Within Our Means – October 24, 2008 New fears of a global recession are again creating panic on the stock markets today, apparently at least partly fuelled by an announcement that Britain is teetering on a recession. And Alistair Darling, the U.K.’s Treasury head guy said, “Every business, every individual – we have to live within our means.” Now there’s an idea. Thirty-two years ago this week, Rolf and I mailed out the first issue of Natural Life magazine from our rural kitchen. Since then, our family and our business have weathered a couple of major recessions and a couple more smaller economic downturns. The focus of that first issue and a large part of each one since then has been to provide information and inspiration for families to live within our means – both economically and environmentally. We used to call it “self-reliance” then, for awhile, “frugality” was the word of choice, and then “green” became hip. Unfortunately, what’s now called “green living” has gone off the tracks in the same way that our economy and environment have…and has become about buying things labelled “green,” “natural” and “organic,” rather than about making thoughtful and prudent choices, and refusing, re-using and recycling. And that has some commentators wondering if the recent trend toward environmental responsibility will be stalled by the economic downturn. So I’m back to talking about frugality, self-reliance and living without our means. I hope that I won’t be a voice in the wilderness. I hope that the convergence of economic and environmental problems will make people think  what “responsibility” means. I hope that it will create a broad awareness that short-term gratification without thinking about long-term survival is irresponsible, even – especially – in times of economic chaos. Sigh. I think I’m sounding more and more like my mother – a woman who was the only person in a family of 11 who worked during the Depression in the 1920s and who knew what living within one’s means truly meant. Posted: 2008/10/24 11:23 PM The Calming Power of Nature…and of Common Sense – October 20, 2008 I’ve recently received information about two new studies examining the causes and cures for an ailment that doesn’t exist: ADHD. I suppose that’s the next step after creating a problem and a name for it, and at least this new research seems focused on avoiding the prescribing of dangerous drugs as a fix. As I recently wrote on the Natural Child magazine website, exposure to cigarette smoke and lead have been found to synergistically increase the behaviours that are diagnosed as ADHD. And now, there is word of new research from the University of Illinois suggesting that a nature stroll can improve the attention span of children with this so-called “disorder.” The study was published in – wait for it – The Journal of Attention Disorders last month. Researchers found that children with ADHD showed greater focus immediately after a 20-minute walk in a park than after a similar walk in a neighbourhood or downtown area. Frances Kuo, one of the co-authors of the study, says that the research builds on her previous work that found green walks for children in general improved both their attention and their impulse control, which are two of the main “issues” in ADHD children. Funny, a walk in the park does the same thing for me. But get this: The researchers surveyed parents about the after-school and weekend activities that seemed to ease their unmedicated children’s ADHD “symptoms,” and walking outdoors was a common factor. Dr. Kuo, an environmental psychologist, says she and her colleagues thought, “Maybe this is real, and the parents aren’t just hallucinating.” (If they were, they would have to be drugged too!) Some studies have shown that inner-city children are diagnosed with ADHD at about three times the rate of children in rural areas. One psychiatrist suggests it could have something to do with “a sense of freedom from containment” on the part of rural kids and those who walk in parks. Posted: 2008/10/20 4:17 PM Drugging Our Kids for Acting Like Kids – October 15, 2008 A 2005 investigative documentary film called The Drugging of Our Children has been making the rounds of the film festivals this year. And it’s one of the offerings at the Motherbaby International Film Festival, of which Natural Life magazine is a proud media sponsor. Prolific health and nutrition expert and author Gary Null wrote, directed and narrated this eye-opening and disturbing feature-length film, which examines the increasingly common practice of prescribing psychotropic drugs for children who have been diagnosed with ADD or ADHD. It is a powerful indictment of schooling and a scary commentary on how we view childhood. It also exposes the symbiotic relationship between the pharmaceutical industry and the psychiatric and medical professions. As one doctor interviewed put it, the medical profession and pharmaceutical industry are making lifetime paying patients out of normal people for normal behavior such as “excessive talking, fidgeting or squirming”…that makes kids not fit well into the classroom management box. If you haven’t seen it already and can’t catch it at a festival, you can buy it online and support the filmmaker. It’s also available for watching online (although I do not personally condone the practice of sharing copyrighted work that way and it is illegal in many countries). Posted: 2008/10/15 4:27 PM The Environment Lost – October 15, 2008 Yesterday’s Canadian election reminds me why I cut short my adventure as leader of the Green Party of Canada over a decade ago. As current leader (and former head of the Sierra Club of Canada) Elizabeth May has just discovered, making change via politics is not easy. May not only didn’t get herself elected as the country’s first Green parliamentarian, her party failed to elect any of the up to eight members of Parliament she’d been projecting. In case you live elsewhere, the outcome of the election was a climate change denying Conservative Party minority government – not much different from the way it was many millions of dollars and five weeks earlier. The Liberal Party, with its own environmentalist leader, lost ground, killing hopes for a complicated and apparently revenue-neutral national carbon tax plan, which was well acclaimed by those in the know…and those who could manage to understand it. I lament the fact that people seem to have voted based on fear or greed, rather than on long-term vision. Even more, I lament the fact that voter turnout hit a record low and the majority of those who did vote, supported one of four non-conservative parties. Never has there been a greater need for some form of proportional representation, which is in place in many other progressive countries. And now, I’m going to stop writing about politics and return once again to creating change. Posted: 2008/10/15 3:15 PM Vote for a Green Economy...for our children – October 13, 2008 Politicians know that exploiting people’s fears can help advance their agendas. And that is most definitely happening now as right wing candidates (in the person of Canada’s Stephen Harper and America’s John McCain) are implying that environmental protection and action on global warming are not compatible with a strong economy. In fact, they warn, efforts to deal with climate change would create new financial hardships. Fears are fanned when there is a vacuum of leadership. However, there are politicians – like American Senator Obama and Canada’s Liberal leader Stephane Dion – who get it and, therefore, might be able to lead North American into a new era of environmental and economic sustainability. During last week’s presidential debate, Obama said dealing with the energy/climate crisis would be his priority. “This is one of the biggest challenges of our times,” he said. “And it’s absolutely critical that we understand this is not just a challenge, it’s an opportunity, because if we create a new energy economy, we can create five million new jobs, easily.” Dion is running on a platform that includes a “Green Shift,” which would implement a carbon tax offset by income tax cuts. The New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, in his new book Hot, Flat, and Crowded, agrees that countries failing to recognize and take advantage of the so-called “green collar” opportunities will suffer. “I am convinced that the ability to develop clean power and energy-efficient technologies is going to become the defining measure of a country’s economic standing, environmental health, energy security and national security over the next 50 years,” he states. Stephen Harper calls his opponent’s Green Shift plan risky and dangerous, but the opposite is more likely true, as economists and scientists around the world have stated. Do nothing about the problem is what’s risky because failing to stop climate change will inevitably create new economic problems, much worse than what we’re currently experiencing. So, as David Suzuki says, “We have to put the ‘eco’ back into economics.”  “Every day that we go on consuming carbon-based products at a price that does not reflect their true social cost, we pass more and more grief on to our children and grandchildren. People worry about having an extra tax added to their existing burden, but if the carbon tax is made revenue neutral...only those who are heavy consumers of carbon-based products will pay more, while those who consume less than the average, mainly low and middle income earners, will pay less tax in total.”  ~ Richard G. Lipsey, Emeritus Professor, Economics Department, Simon Fraser University; Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and past President of the Canadian Economics Association Posted: 2008/10/13 3:35 PM Not the Economy Versus the Environment - October 6, 2008 Today, I had an irate email in response to my “It’s the Environment, Stupid” post of October 2. This person asked how I could possibly be so stupid as to think we can afford such a costly luxury as solving climate change when the global economy is tanking. Well, as I’ve written many times in this blog – the most recent being September 30 – and in my editorials in Natural Life magazine, it does not have to be an either/or predicament. It’s only that way if you think about green living as consumer-oriented, about saving the planet somehow by buying the latest green (probably expensive) gizmo. Aside from the points I made last week, there’s no need to forget our commitment to green living just because the economy is in crisis. In fact, this is probably the best time to think sustainably. There have been a few recessions since Rolf and I began publishing Natural Life in 1976 and those who’ve weathered them with the least stress have been those accustomed to living a green lifestyle…because that is, almost by definition, also a frugal lifestyle. To that end, we’ve created a new index on the Natural Life website of some of the articles we’ve published in the magazine over the last few years that I hope will inspire readers to save money by conserving resources, or by thinking about economics in a different way. Keep checking the site, because we’ll be adding articles over the next few weeks. Posted: 2008/10/06 8:18 PM It’s the Environment, Stupid – October 2, 2008 With the U.S. and Canada both shortly deciding who should lead their respective countries – and two “debates” on television tonight, one in each country (and an epidemic of channel surfing thumb syndrome tomorrow morning) – there’s election fever in North America. And yes, the economy seems to be top of mind in many sectors. At the same time, however, the world’s top climate scientists are telling us that we are nearing a tipping point environmentally and the next leaders of the American and Canadian governments may be the most important we choose. Will we elect government leaders who fight or will we elect leaders who continue to refuse to take action on one of the most important issues we face? Do not, however, expect to see much discussion on that topic in the debates. So to help answer that question, one of my favorite anti-greenwashing info sources, the DeSmogBlog, has launched a new Election Coverage Center. They’ve analyzed the climate change policies of every party leader currently running in the U.S. and Canadian elections based on ten widely accepted benchmarks for what makes a good greenhouse gas reduction policy. Posted: 2008/10/02 11:47 AM Return to current weblog Comments? Suggestions? Email me copyright © Wendy Priesnitz 2008

Topics & Passions life learning / unschooling simplicity environment natural parenting creativity / writing books ~ Monthly Archives Sept, 2008 August, 2008 July, 2008 June, 2008 May, 2008 Apr, 2008 Mar, 2008 Feb, 2008 Jan, 2008 Dec, 2007 Nov, 2007 Oct, 2007 Sept, 2007 Aug, 2007 July, 2007 June, 2007 May, 2007 April, 2007 Mar, 2007 Feb, 2007 Jan, 2007 Dec, 2006 Nov, 2006 Oct, 2006 Sept, 2006 Aug, 2006 July, 2006 June, 2006 May, 2006 April, 2006 Mar, 2006 Feb, 2006 Jan, 2006 Dec, 2005 Nov, 2005 Oct, 2005 Sept, 2005 Aug, 2005 July, 2005 June, 2005 May, 2005 April, 2005 Mar, 2005 Feb, 2005 Jan, 2005 Dec, 2004 Nov, 2004 Oct, 2004 Sept, 2004 Aug, 2004 July, 2004 June, 2004 May, 2004 April, 2004 ~ What I'm Reading Hot, Flat and Crowded by Thomas Friedman (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2008) Unbowed: A Memoir by Wangari Maathai (Knopf, 2007) Well Behaved Women Seldom Make History by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich (Knopf/Vintage, 2008) The Upside of Down: Catastrophe, Creativity and the Renewal of Civilization by Thomas Homer-Dixon (Vintage, 2007) ~ What I'm Listening To Zydeco by various artists (Putumayo, 1999) Keep it Simple by Van Morrison (Exile Productions, 2008) ~ Fav Bookmarks Daughter Blog The Mother/Daughter Project TED: Ideas Worth Spreading Radio Free School Organic Consumers Association Grist We Are What We Do Free Rice Mothers Movement Online ~ Fav Quotes Art, Writing, Creativity Life and Living Men and Women Learning Environment and Peace